Weight Loss Success Stories: Inspiration  

Motivator

His head shot in the company newsletter snapped him out of it

 

Name:  Eric Zack
Job:  Manager at an Internet company 
Home:  Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts 
Age:  31 

Height:  5'10 1/2''
Weight before:  205 

Weight now : 150

 

When Eric Zack moved from Michigan to Massachusetts in 1998, he stopped his 15-miles-a-week running routine and began fueling a long commute with fast-food breakfasts and dinners. He tried to offset restaurant lunches by eating salads for dinner, but he doused the salads in dressing and gorged on bread. Sunday nights were family dinners of veal parmigiana, pasta, and dessert. Friends called him "the ultimate slug." In 1 year, he put on 31 pounds. His pants were a tight size 36.

 

THE CHANGE: When Zack started a new job, the company newsletter ran his photo. His head looked like a melon. "I made a joke of it, but I was so embarrassed," he says. He switched to four smaller meals a day, ate a turkey sandwich for lunch instead of making a McDonald's run, and skipped the big Sunday dinners. He replaced soda with water, resumed running, and started toning his body with weights three times a week.

 

THE RESULT:  It took 2 years, but he reached 150 pounds and size-30 pants, and has stayed there. "I finally got it all together," he says. "I started eating right, lifting weights, and running smarter by pushing for 4 very fast miles instead of doing a 3-mile jog."

 

THE REWARD On his 30th birthday, Zack finished his first marathon in 3 hours, 44 minutes. At the beach or on a run, he's no longer hesitant to shed his shirt.

 

ERIC'S WORKOUT
He runs 30 to 40 miles a week--often with a group--and lifts 3 days a week, using a different upper-body routine each month from Men's Health and a 20-minute ab workout every day.

 

ERIC'S TIPS
* "I eat four meals a day, basically to control hunger. This way, I don't overeat to compensate."

* "Joining a group was one of the best things I did. It helps pass the time and provides encouragement."

 

Motivator

Great tattoo, bad body

 

Name: Faisal Sipra

Job: Salesman/ U.S. Marine Corps reservist

Home: New York City 

Age: 30  

Height: 5'10''

Weight before: 220 lb

weight after: 160 lb

THE GAIN: Sipra was a rock-solid, 175-pound U.S. Marine in his early 20s. But when he traded active duty for an office job, he fell into corporate habits--skipping breakfast, snacking constantly on high-fat foods, eating out, and hitting happy hour instead of the gym. In 4 years, he weighed 220.

 

THE PAIN: One day, he had the Marine Corps emblem tattooed on his arm. The tattoo looked great; his physique didn't deserve it. "This," he says, "was not the body of a U.S. Marine."

 

THE CHANGE: The next day, Sipra ate a good breakfast and packed healthy snacks for work. He stopped sucking down soda and fatty mocha lattes, and cut out the fast food and doughnuts. Now, he typically has whole grain cereal for breakfast, a nutrition bar at midmorning, a tuna-salad sandwich for lunch, and a protein shake in the midafternoon. Dinner is light--turkey, rice, vegetables, for instance--and he eats it early so he has some time to burn off the calories before going to bed. Sipra started running daily and now goes to the gym three to five times a week.

 

THE REWARD: His new body inspired Sipra to re-enlist. He scored "first class" on his fitness test, higher than when he originally enlisted. He's now a reservist and says the marines are considering him for officer training.

 

SIPRA'S WORKOUT: He alternates running and lifting days. Lifting days begin with 100 crunches, and he works his upper body in one session and lower body the next, then focuses on flexibility, pullups, and pushups in the third session. On running days, he varies his workout with distance, hills, and speed.

 

SIPRA'S TIPS

*Keep raising the bar. "If I run 2 1/2 miles one day, I try running 3 the next, or  miles in an even shorter time. The element of challenge encourages you and makes you believe you're getting stronger."

 

*Don't do it all at once. "Gradually reducing your diet and increasing your exercise makes you less likely to fail."

 

*No excuses on the road. "Even if your hotel doesn't have a gym, get out and run or do pushups in your room. You can always do something."

Motivator

An embarrassing moment at an amusement park inspired him to lose 168 pounds

 

Name: Mark C. Davis
Job: Personal fitness trainer with the San Francisco Bay Club 
Home: San Francisco, California 
Age: 44
Height: 6'
Weight before: 368
Weight now: 200

Davis weighed 175 pounds in high school and college, but by age 25, he was up to 235--mostly from the bad eating habits he developed while traveling for business. That's when he made a bet with his best friend that he could get down to 175 in 12 weeks. Davis won the bet, but the crash diet backfired. Eight years later, he found himself at 368 pounds, wearing size-54 pants and a size-64 jacket. His blood pressure shot up, and he couldn't sleep at night because he had trouble breathing.

 

THE TURNING POINT: On a ride at an amusement park, Davis couldn't close the seat's restraining bar over him, so he had to get off the ride, humiliated. "At that point I was really determined. I didn't ever want to go through that again." So he bought an exercise bike. He started riding for 2 minutes at the lowest intensity and did it every day until he worked up to 30 minutes at the bike's highest intensity. He then joined a gym and began working.

 

THE RESULT: It took Davis 4 years to lose the full 168 pounds and get down to size-34 pants and a 42 jacket. He started competing in triathlons--even finishing a Half-Ironman (1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike ride, and 13.1-mile run).

 

THE REWARD: A pair of inline skates and a personalized license plate: "XBIGMAN."

 

MARK'S WORKOUT
* He exercises between 60 and 90 minutes daily. He does cardiovascular training--biking, running, or swimming for triathlons--every day. And he does weight training every other day.

 

* Wears a heart-rate monitor for efficient workouts and to gauge intensity level.

 

MARK'S LOSS LEADERS
* "Don't tell people you're trying to lose weight. Too often, instead of getting support, you'll wind up getting misinformation and bad advice."

 

* "If you're depressed and depression is making you gain weight, get it treated. What makes you fat isn't what you eat--it's what's eating you."

 

* "Look for people who inspire you. I'm inspired by my clients who are struggling with what I had to struggle with, and by people like the 82-year-old who finished the Florida Ironman."

 

Motivator

Huffing and puffing at the top of the stairs

 

Name:  Carl Kanefsky

Job:  Director of governmental affairs and communications for the Medical Society of Delaware 

Home:  Bear, Delaware

Age:  36 

Height:  5'11''

Weight before:  294
Weight now:  187

 

After college, Kanefsky lived on junk food. For years, a typical lunch would be a tuna hoagie, cheese fries, and lots of soda. He ate extra-cheese pizzas twice a week for dinner. For 10 years, his wife urged him to lose weight--but he retaliated by eating more. In December 1999, he went to the doctor's office and weighed in at 294 pounds, with size-42 pants and a triglyceride level of 700 (over 200 is considered risky). The doctor didn't give him a lecture. He just said, "You know what you need to do."

 

THE TURNING POINT: Kanefsky was at a meeting with his wife. When he returned to
the conference table after using the men's room, his wife leaned in and whispered, "You're huffing and puffing. You're out of breath from climbing the steps." Within a few days, a friend joked that he was a heart attack waiting to happen. It was perfectly clear: If he didn't change, he might not live long enough to see his three sons grow up.

 

THE RESULT: After failing on various diets over the past decade, Kanefsky decided to try Weight Watchers. Its point system allows you to eat all kinds of foods--in moderation. To tackle his 104-pound weight-loss goal, Kanefsky thought of it in 5-pound increments. He snacked on loads of air-popped popcorn and baby carrots--1-pound bags at a time. He started walking on a treadmill; at first it took him 32 minutes to walk 1 mile. In 10 months, he lost 107 pounds. His waist size shrank to 34, and his triglycerides dropped to 82.

 

CARL'S WORKOUT
* Walk/run 4 miles on the treadmill, at a pace of about 10 minutes per mile, 4 days a week.

 

CARL'S LOSS LEADERS
* "Water was key for me. It helped me feel full, it helps burn fat, and you get extra exercise from all those trips to the bathroom."

 

* "Have controlled binges. I went on a week-long cruise right in the middle of my program. And it was the first time I gorged since I'd started. But I worked out every day, and I promised myself that I'd never take the elevator during the cruise, just the stairs. I also vowed that as soon as I got home, I would go back to eating healthfully."

Motivator

Kids and play

 

Name: Ed Demarquez

Job: Operations director of a methadone treatment center

Hometown: Pembroke, Massachusetts

Age: 34

Height 5'11''

Weight before: 272 lb

Weight after: 210 lb

 

Demarquez was heavy his entire life--he was the chubby one in the kindergarten picture. For decades he avoided exercise, skipped breakfast, and pigged out on fast food for lunch and dinner. Fad diets failed, so he told himself he carried the weight well. At 32, he gave up. "I determined that my body type was just meant to be heavy," he says.

 

THE CHANGE: He was playing outside with his 3-year-old son. After 10 minutes, he says, "I just wanted to go inside and sit on the couch." For his kids' sake, he wanted to change. He turned to his family. He started taking walks, sometimes with his son and baby girl. He had oatmeal for breakfast, and his wife, Adrienne, packed his lunch with healthy snacks. He started jogging, bought dumbbells, joined a gym.

 

THE RESULT: Demarquez dropped 62 pounds in a little over a year. He exercises 3 days a week and eats five small meals a day. He has a midmorning snack of soy-nut mix, a lunch of a turkey sandwich with mustard, and a few pieces of fruit in the afternoon. "It's religious now," he says. Dinner is usually a protein-rich meat with salad and vegetables, but he relaxes the diet on Fridays for pizza with the family.

 

THE REWARD: Demarquez is able to play with his son, now 5, and 2-year-old daughter for hours on end. "When we play out in the backyard, it's amazing how much more energy I have," he says.

 

ED'S WORKOUT

Demarquez lifts weights three times a week, after 30 minutes of cardiovascular exercise. Every 6 weeks, he changes the lifting routine and varies the cardio workout between the elliptical machine, stationary cycle, and treadmill.

 

ED'S TIPS

* Try cardiovascular work first. "I used to slack on my cardio when I tried to do it after lifting. I would be so tired, there was no way I would step on any machine."

 

* Log your workout. "Looking back on everything you've done keeps you motivated to do more."

 

* Remember your brown bag. "Packing my food every day has helped me stick to my diet and avoid the temptation to run across the street to the sub shop."

 

Motivator

One damn fine magazine

 

Name: Darren Geffre

Job: Singer

Home: Los Lunas, New Mexico  

Age: 31  

Height: 6'1''

Weight Before: 287 lb  

Weight After: 195 lb

In his mid-20s, Geffre, a member of the Blackfeet tribe and a former high-school runner, worked a sedentary job as a network technician. He went through a six-pack of Mountain Dew a day and ate fast food for lunch and dinner. Friends told him that because he was a Native American, it was his genetic destiny to be big. “I reached 280 pounds and just accepted that I was a large man,” he says.

 

THE CHANGE: He saw the words “You Can Do It” on a magazine cover (okay, it was Men’s Health) and tossed it in his grocery cart with his pizzas and burritos. At home, Geffre borrowed his sister’s treadmill and started walking--1 mile at first--then lifting weights. He cut fast food out of his diet and stocked the fridge with healthy snacks.

 

THE RESULT: He lost 92 pounds in a year. Now, a typical day’s meals include egg substitute and toast with no butter for breakfast, a poached chicken breast and salad for lunch, and a protein shake around 3 p.m. He whips up stir-fry for dinner, making healthy meals more appetizing by adding spices and green chile.

 

THE REWARD: Geffre is singing and writing songs full-time--and the weight loss somehow gave his voice more range. “At 287, I didn’t feel very sexy,” he says. “Now I can move around more onstage, and I don’t get as tired as I used to.”

 

DARREN’S WORKOUT

Geffre lifts free weights on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. On Tuesdays and Thursdays, he does 25 minutes of interval work on the treadmill, followed by an ab workout.

 

DARREN’S TIPS

*Hydrate. “I drink a glass of water while I’m weighing my food before a meal, and by the time I sit down, I’m already pretty full.”

 

*Don’t go hungry. “Always keep something in your stomach. During the day, I’m never hungry, so my body’s not going into starvation mode and storing fat.”

 

*Eat buffalo meat. “It’s extremely lean and contains healthy omega-3 fats.”

 

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